The Cat Returns

Year: 2002
Running time: 75 minutes
Certificate: U
Language: Japanese
Screenplay: Reiko Yoshida
Director: Hiroyuki Morita
Starring (voices): Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Aki Maeda, Takayuki Yamada, Hitomi Satô, Kenta Satoi, Mari Hamada, Tetsu Watanabe, Yôsuke Saitô, Tetsurô Tanba 

Haru in a brief moment of quiet reflection.

Studio Ghibli didn't always need to rely on Hayao Miyazaki's genius to produce great work. While The Cat Returns is certainly proof of that, it does feel like a lesser work. Rest assured, however - it is gorgeous, engaging and a lot of fun.

As is the trend with many Studio Ghibli films, The Cat Returns explores a fantastical fantasy world through the eyes of a young girl. 17 year-old Haru (Chizuru Ikewaki) is walking home from school when she saves the life of a cat, preventing him from being run over with inventive use of her lacrosse stick. It turns out that the feline life she saves is none other than Prince Lune (Takayuki Yamada), heir to the kingdom of the cats. In addition to gratitude, Haru is betrothed to Prince Lune and somehow needs to find a way to escape the cat kingdom before she turns into a cat herself and marries the prince.

Haru and her new friend, The Baron.

Helping her in this endeavour is The Baron (Yoshihiko Hakamada), the cool top hat, tails and cane sporting cat and fat cat Muta (Tetsu Watanabe). The Baron and Muta have featured in a previous Studio Ghibli feature (the beautiful ode to the awakening of the creative urge in the young Whisper of the Heart, which is truly impossible for me to recommend highly enough) and it's great to see them again, this time in a much more hands-on (paws-on?) role. The escape is packed full of moments of comedy and breathless action brought to life by staggeringly good animation.

Less sophisticated than most of Studio Ghibli's other output, this is nevertheless another splendid addition to the studio's stellar collection.

Score: 7/10

Opinions of The Cat Returns as a lesser-yet-still-worthy Ghibli release seem fairly uniform across the board - see these reviews from Hannah at T.H.E.M., IGN and Kuma at The Nihon Review.